Clinical Laboratory Students to perform glucose testing at ADA Expo

Student volunteers from the Clinical Laboratory Science program will perform glucose testing at the American Diabetes Association Expo.

Student volunteers from the Clinical Laboratory Science (CLS) program at Texas State University will be performing glucose testing at the American Diabetes Association Expo in San Antonio May 18.

The American Diabetes Association Expo will be held in the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.

The Texas State students along with their faculty advisors will be collecting blood with a finger stick, reading and annotating the results from a home use model glucose meter, then advising the visitors of their diabetes status based upon those results. In addition to the public health benefit of this service, the effort also serves to expose the public to the laboratory professionals who perform the testing.

Research indicates that 70 percent of the medical decisions made by physicians is based upon the tests that clinical laboratory scientists perform, yet that profession remains largely unknown to the general public as well as to many medical professionals. Although the glucose reading is a simple test usually completed at home by diabetics using a drop of blood from a finger stick, this public testing serves as an excellent opportunity to let the public see future laboratory science professionals at work.

For additional information about the Texas State participation in the ADA Expos, contact Gerald Redwine at (512) 245-6682 or via email at gr20@txstate.edu.